Coalition Senator Ian Macdonald and Member for Solomon, Natasha Griggs, spoke with community members in Darwin at the Northern Australia Forum

MP Natasha Griggs' office

The Federal Opposition held a community forum in Darwin this morning, focussing on developing northern Australia.

It's an idea that has been pitched repeatedly over the years by successive governments but never taken off.

However, the Coalition believes it can deliver if it wins government, with a commitment to produce a 'white paper' on developing a northern food bowl, growing the tourism economy and building an energy export industry.

Around 40 people were in attendance at the forum where Opposition spokesman for northern and remote Australia, Senator Ian Macdonald, and local member for Solomon, Natasha Griggs, took questions from members of the public.

The Senator told The Country Hour the Territory has a big future with key local areas of interest being resource development and farming.

"Clearly the Northern Territory has a huge future in what is currently untapped resources in minerals. You have the gas coming in which could spawn other downstream processing.

"There'll also be some 3.3 billion middle class Asians in this area by 2030, that is in India, south east Asia and China, who all want good quality food, clean and green food, will mean greater opportunities for farmers in the Territory," he said.

"I'm being told the next couple of decades will be the decades of the food boom."

Senator Macdonald said the Coalition had learnt from past lessons and quoted CSIRO estimates that there are between 5 and 17 million hectares of "good arable land" across northern Australia.

Should the Coalition be successful at the federal election, it is promising to release the white paper within 12 months.